Thursday, May 30, 2013

Is a conservative’s call to dissolve the federal government treason? And, Dude, where were you during the Bush years?

A radio host named Adam Kokesh is calling for mass marches
on 50 state capitals on July 4 to demand “an orderly dissolution of the federal
government.” According to an article at Media
Matters, he was originally promoting a march on Washington, D.C. and
encouraging participants to carry weapons, but has now changed tactics. Oh, and
he’s putting a time limit on compliance. If said dissolution hasn’t taken place
by July 4, 2014, well, who knows what could happen.

There’s an occasionally interesting back and forth in the comments
section of the Kokesh article about what constitutes treason. One thing that
comes out loud and clear is the idea promoted by conservative contributors that
the Obama administration is ignoring the Constitution and is therefore acting
illegally, making open rebellion justified. This is a fait accompli in right
wing media circles. While FOX News is not openly promoting armed rebellion (I
don’t think), their talking heads spend program after program, week after week,
attacking Obama and his policies with a fierceness that borders on pathology, and
as a result, fanning the emotional fires of those who might actually strap on a
rifle and take to the streets.

Here’s my question. Where were the “dissolve the federal
government” patriots when it became clear that George Bush lied us into a war
that cost nearly 5,000 American lives, hundreds of thousands of Iraqi lives and
trillions of our tax dollars? Where were the “dissolve the federal government”
patriots when the Bush administration ignored the Constitution to create the
Patriot Act and the Office of Homeland Security? Where were the “dissolve the
federal government” patriots when Bush approved torture, indefinite detention
and Guantanamo? Where were the “dissolve the federal government” patriots when
the Bush crowd threw habeas corpus out the window?

These self-proclaimed patriots aren’t interested in saving
America. The goal is to remake America in their conservative image, to create
the dumbed-down, church approved, gun-toting, patriarchal utopia they have wet
dreams over when they’re not attacking that uppity black guy in Washington.

We shall see what comes of the Kokesh rebellion. Is it
treason? Here’s Article 3, section 3 of the Constitution:

Treason against the United States, shall consist only in
levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and
Comfort.